The second child of Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi will be born 11th in line to the throne.
The royal baby will be the little brother or sister of the couple’s three-year-old daughter Sienna, who is currently 10th in line to the throne.
Beatrice’s younger sister, Princess Eugenie, is currently ranked 11th, but will drop to 12th once the baby is born.
The late Queen’s granddaughter, 36, and Mr Mozzi, 40, are preparing to welcome a new addition to their family in early spring.
The baby will also be a brother to Mapelli Mozzi’s son and Beatrice’s stepson, Wolfie, eight, who is not in the line of succession.
The second child of Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi will be the eleventh in line to the throne
A new photograph published today of Princess Beatrice, dressed in a black down jacket, smiling at the camera, while being hugged by Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, who looks at his wife.
Your new child will not be HRH or a Prince or Princess, nor will you need the monarch’s permission to marry.
For hundreds of years, the Royal Marriages Act 1772 meant that descendants of George II had to seek the sovereign’s consent before marrying; otherwise their marriages were considered invalid.
But this law was repealed by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, which restricted consent to only the first six people in the line of succession.
Since the new baby is 11th in line, they won’t need to seek a monarch’s approval to get married for now.
George III, grandson of George II, had ordered the Act of 1772 after his younger brother, the Duke of Cumberland, secretly married Lady Anne Horton, considered the widow of a commoner of very disrepute.
Beatrice is the eldest daughter of the Duke of York and his ex-wife Sarah, and the new baby will be the Yorks’ fourth grandchild.
He will also be the 14th great-grandchild of the late Queen Elizabeth II, and the second to be born since her death in 2022, following the arrival of Eugenie’s second son, Ernest, last year.
The Mapelli Mozzis’ daughter Sienna, whose middle name is Elizabeth in honor of the late queen, was born at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, weighing 6 pounds, 2 ounces, on September 18, 2021.
Beatrice married millionaire property magnate Mapelli Mozzi in a closed secret wedding in 2020 attended by her grandparents, the Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, after the planned ceremony was postponed due to the pandemic.
Known as Edo, Mapelli Mozzi is the son of former Olympic skier Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi and Nikki Williams-Ellis.
His son Christopher Woolf, nicknamed Wolfie, was born in 2016 to his then-girlfriend, the American architect and designer Dara Huang.
Another new family photo shared to mark the announcement shows blonde-haired Sienna from behind as she walks down a country road, holding hands amid her dad and older brother Wolfie. The young woman, with a red bow in her hair, is equipped with bright yellow wellies and a blue all-in-one waterproof suit decorated with cloud and bird motifs.
Princess Beatrice’s younger sister, Princess Eugenie, is currently ranked 11th, but will drop to 12th once the baby is born. The sisters appear together during a garden party at Haven House Children’s Hospice in Woodford Green on September 10.
Beatrice has described Wolfie as her ‘bonus son’ and he joined the Mapelli Mozzis at Kate’s Together At carol service at Westminster Abbey last December, holding his stepmother’s hand when he arrived.
The princess, who is not a royal and works full time, is an advisor to Afiniti, an artificial intelligence software company, and co-founder of The Big Change Charitable Trust.
She has several royal patronages, including the Forget Me Not children’s hospice, the Teenage Cancer Trust and the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement: “HRH Princess Beatrice and Mr Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi are very pleased to announce that they are expecting their second child together in early spring; a brother to Wolfie, eight, and Sienna, three years old.
“His Majesty the King has been informed and both families are delighted with the news.”